Modernizing Land Administration: Government Unveils Significant Reforms

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

November 18, 2025

In a decisive move to enhance administrative efficiency, Cyprus’ Ministry of Interior has embarked on a transformative initiative set to overhaul the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS) by 2026. This comprehensive reform aims to modernize procedures, simplify basic services, and promote transparent, sustainable real estate management.

Reimagining Real Estate Management

Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou underlined the government’s objective to rationalize land administration practices. Central to this effort is a restructured method for calculating transfer fees. Traditionally determined by comparative sales, the existing model often led to discrepancies and disputes. The proposed shift to basing fees on declared prices, consistent with taxation standards, is expected to foster greater transparency and provide early cost certainty for buyers, while still allowing for market assessments when necessary.

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Embracing Digital Transformation

The reform strategy also includes a robust digitalization plan. Approximately 150 forms used by the Land Registry will be redesigned and incrementally transitioned to an online platform. Accompanied by detailed guides and standardized templates for essential documents, such as powers of attorney and inheritance certificates, this digital push is designed to reduce bureaucratic delays, lower operational costs, and lessen the administrative burden on both citizens and staff.

Resolving Long-Standing System Challenges

Addressing historical inefficiencies is a key component of the reform. The longstanding backlog related to co-owned indivisible properties and right-of-way applications—where nearly 1,700 cases remain unresolved—will be targeted with new procedures. Initiatives include establishing a unified auction system, revising payment terms, and creating specialized teams for access requests to accelerate processing times and support real estate development.

Enhancing State Land Oversight

Parallel legislative efforts aim to modernize state land management, introducing clearer leasing criteria, stricter regulatory oversight, and potentially competitive bidding for leases. This initiative is designed to ensure that state properties are leased under fair market conditions, safeguarded against underpriced allocations, and managed with enhanced transparency.

Collectively, these reforms are set to redefine the operational landscape of Cyprus’ land administration, ensuring that modern, streamlined, and transparent practices underpin critical government services.

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Copyright Law Struggles To Keep Up With AI Training

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

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Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.

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